Conditioned
by The-Mystic-Doki
Summary: San Fransokyo - a city of the future. Big Hero 6, their heroes and bane of supervillains everywhere, and led by teen genius Hiro Hamada. With Baymax and his friends, his life has been great; until he comes across a strange tape that may be the key to them finding the head of their opponents. But there's more going on in the shadows, with figures both unknown and eerily familiar...
1. Prologue

Birds dashed in the air against a sky of azure, a shining golden star known as the sun behind them all while white cotton candy clouds sauntered by haphazardly without a single care about anything in the world.

Hands pressed up against the window, a pair of innocent, wide, brown eyes stared out at the ever-developing world in front of him. Occasionally shifting slightly with the movement of the vehicle, the boy, named Tadashi couldn't help but smile a bit. Pushing the button as the window went down automatically, letting the air breeze in while he let himself be lost in his thoughts.

Sometimes, like this, he'd find himself looking at the people on the streets as they went about their day, the radio pressing on with some random tune that he'd be bopping along to without intending to, but would forget for a few days. Then afterwards, he was pretty sure he'd be doing something only for it to never leave his head when he was trying to think.

It happened a lot, he'd admit it.

The citizens of San Fransokyo probably wouldn't remember him much except for being someone just staring out a window, but one day he did want to be remembered for something more. He wanted to help people - more than anything else in the world. But how? He was certain he would figure out the perfect way to do it, how to be the change he wanted to see in the world. Maybe something with illness or injury? That was still a problem. It was always a problem.

Different people with different stories to tell, stories he probably would never get to hear in his life, strode down the pavements, onto trams and even inside a friend's car every now and again. Some were casual, with flowy dresses or just a shirt and pants. Others caked in black suits and briefcases, probably off to work somewhere.

He'd began seeing those people around more recently. It seemed to involve an increase in employment - he'd heard about it a couple of times when he'd be sat on the carpet with some type of contraption, trying to understand how it worked somehow while he and Hiro's parents watched the news.

Right now, the family of four were heading off to see Aunt Cass down at the Lucky Cat Café for another visit, so as expected; they were all pretty cheerful.

Well...except for Hiro, but he was pretty much falling asleep. He probably wouldn't remember the trip very much, Tadashi was certain of it. He reached over, briefly ruffling Hiro's rather messy head of black hair.

"You okay there, little buddy...?" the voice of their father suddenly called to the back of the car, Tadashi giving a grin as he nodded, only to drop from his position and back onto the leather seat, laughing ever so sheepishly.

"Yeah…!" Tadashi answered, assuringly, hands in his lap. Eyes scrolling to the window, he noticed something odd; one of those suits, the ones he'd been seeing more often, stared at him. Shifting uncomfortably, he decided just to look ahead. Eep...

Sat on the left side with his mother at the wheel, Tadashi looked. He tilted his head, a sense of confusion sinking in. Her general smile seemed to indicate she was fine, but everything else was off.

Her fingers would always rest casually. They now tightly gripped onto the wheel, nails about to dig into the surface. Her posture would be upwards, straight, yet relaxed. Yet something here was forced, as it seemed like she wanted more than anything just to lean back. Each second, she fidgeted, whistling constantly to make it sound like a cheery song instead of a nervous tremor, eyes rolled skyward.

His eyes fluttered shut and then opened softly, his face slackened with a sincere look, tugging a bit on her cardigan. "Are you okay…?"

"Yes. Just a bit on edge is all."

"Huh…? Why?"

"I don't know; just one of those days, I guess. I'll feel better soon, don't you worry about me, you silly boy." their mother gave a soft smile, squeezing his hand as they stopped at a light, blinking from amber to scarlet moments later.

Deciding to return to the window, Tadashi closed it with the push of a button before noticing a black car coming down the lane at a strange speed. Strangely, he couldn't decipher how fast they were going, and judging by his mother's stricken face; even adults or someone who had aced the test on speed during Maths like he had couldn't decipher it either.

All the while, he forced himself to try and find something familiar on the outside - catching the top of the Lucky Cat Café just down the road. Good, good. Once they got there it meant they could get out of the car, have fun with their aunt and forget the eerie air that was floating around them all, it even affecting his three-year-old brother, who was now grumbling and mumbling in his sleep.

Tadashi's lips pressed firmly together, fists clenched as they pulled away from the car's glass barriers. His stomach intent on rolling around in his body, enough that he had to clench his throat tightly. This didn't make sense.

This made no sense, none, zero, he was being ridiculous.

It was just the street, it just had to be the street.

He had to have eaten something that had gone bad without them knowing it or something, something bad had caught him while he had let the air come into the window. Soon they'd all be home, complaining about a sick bug, laughing and joking a week later.

More than anything, he didn't want to look again at that strange driver. The one who seemed to be locked in a different time than everyone else, gears seeming to be ticking all the while. Trying to rid the feeling like he was about to cough out the breakfast he had this morning if he was lucky, Tadashi turned to his sleeping sibling, the only one in the car who was somewhat oblivious to the tension.

The luckiest one here.

Traffic slowed to a crawl up ahead, the world taunting the quartet. Those who were awake had to smile and bear it, but Tadashi couldn't, his only remedy to be trying to take in the average sounds of the city he had grown used to for seven years. After a few minutes, it seemed to be working, that sickly feeling beginning to disappear.

Then it happened.

A raven room suddenly screeched in a complaint as it grew too close for comfort, screams echoing in the Hamadas' tiny car.

His breath was stolen from him, Tadashi being thrown into his mother's seat and only saved from being crushed by it due to his tightly-fastened seat belt. But it wasn't much of a rescue.

Restrained to the leather seat, he felt his head being forced back onto it as the vehicle skidded out of control, heading straight for a lamppost. All he could do was squeeze his eyes shut, a cold and careless liquid trickling down his skin. Feeling about his body, there were only scratches, bruises. He couldn't breathe, he couldn't breathe. Everything stopped.

Trying to regain his breath, slowly, Tadashi forced himself to look up again.

If he could have a wish at this moment; it would have been that he hadn't. That he hadn't decided to look up.

Why did he do it? With the impact, he should have known that looking up would only have given him a horrific sight.

More than anything, Tadashi wished that he had just kept his head down and not wondered what that dripping on his skin was.

Right in front of him, her head practically twisted against the back of the seat, was his mother. Her neck crunching backwards with a horrible snap, her body mangled like a puppet on strings, briefly nodding loose as the car forced itself to stop upon impacting against the street's lamppost. She'd shut her eyes as well, but her face was contorted into one of permanent terror.

"M...Mom…" Tadashi choked out, throat becoming raw within seconds.

In desperation, he glanced over at his father to see if he had made it; but no - while his body hadn't been as brutally mangled as his mother's, the black car having crashed into his mother's side; his father wasn't moving, not even twitching, his neck snapped, head halfway out the window.

In the sunlight, there was a glint. It was his father's glasses, smashed out in the street.

' _No, no…'_ Tadashi thought. He did not want to be the only one left who could still breathe.

His aching hands dragged over to the buckle of the seatbelt, pressing down with all his might.

Hiro was still breathing. He was crying.

He was alive.

Within seconds, Tadashi crawled over, across the seat to his little brother, who was crying endlessly. His breath trembled, choking out a quick source of comfort; "Y-you're going to be fine...we're...okay, buddy, we're...fine…" tears still streaming down his cheeks, the cracks in the corner of his eye, his ribs burned horribly, even breathing was pure agony.

Several people were gathered around the car, a man choking out a horrified, "Oh god…"

A woman, shuddering and pulling out her phone, dialling the ambulance to come to salvage what was left.

Halfway slanted down the road, Tadashi's eyes squinted for a familiar face once more, the rest of his face hidden in Hiro's hair, holding his baby brother close, terrified if he let go then he would look back and Hiro would be gone too.

Both had no choice but to hold on, his neck strained endlessly, his head pounding like a drum.

Those screams from earlier, when it all happened.

His parents shocked into silence. Hiro awakening with a start.

It didn't take long for him to realize that they had been his.

"Wait! I think there are still people alive in there!"

"No…! My family….! My...that's...that's my family….!" a strangled cry rang through the air, interrupted by sobs over and over again. Aunt Cass.

Someone ran away. They stepped out of a strange room, or vehicle; he couldn't remember properly as everything blurred.

He was quite certain that the car was ebony.

But it didn't matter now, as Tadashi had to be sure - that the only people he had left weren't torn away too. He never wanted anyone to go through this again. It felt worse than death.

Hiro didn't remember properly. But Tadashi did. He would never forget, he never _could_ forget. Living through that felt worse than death, as you had to carry the grief around with you. With death, everything would stop. Not in his case.

Even years later; Tadashi Hamada knew this better than all the formulas in every test he'd ever done, no matter how many times he memorized them; he would always remember that horrible day as vividly as he had seen it, even after eleven years had gone by.

Even when he was older.

Even when he was certain himself one day, on that night with his body trapped under a beam, that he was going to die right there and then.


	2. Someone Has To Help

Pride turning to confusion.

Confusion turning to concern.

Concern turning to fear.

The tip-off that something was wrong was the screams echoing in the air, the people beginning to dash past them, desperate to get away.

Turning their heads, Tadashi and Hiro practically sprinted whether they had the breath in them or not towards the sight; the school...it was engulfed in flame.

The conflagration was a horrific sight, smoke hovering above without leaving, and if it did, it was replaced immediately in the dozens. A horrible amber glow filled the building, getting darker as it went upwards into the sky. It was impossible not to see it, the inferno taking over the institution with each passing second. It was impossible to not hear the terrified screams of fear from those scrambling to try and get out, their desperation filling the air like a sickening fog. Tadashi and Hiro couldn't even hear their panting breath over it all, the smell of smoke filling their nostrils as everything they had just seen; so bright, so alive before - now it was burning to nothing right before their eyes. Even from here, they could still taste the ash that would right now be lying on the floor, new technology still inside rotting away with the flame.

A woman, one of the judges from earlier, stumbled in her heels. It was likely she would have fallen over if Tadashi hadn't managed to catch her, asking her with a voice that worried for everyone; "Are you okay…?" he questioned, just barely audible over the terrified screeching and shrieks of the people surrounding them.

Shaking violently, the woman just barely choked out a reply, "Y...yeah, I'm okay...but Professor Callaghan's still in there!" pointing to burning building behind them.

He knew what he had to do. He couldn't just let somebody die, knowing there was still a chance, _some_ hope of saving them.

He didn't want to see another person die.

Moving ahead, it was then that he felt a strong grip on his arm, a tight one. "Tadashi, no!" Hiro called, looking straight at him.

There was that choice; run inside and try and save his teacher. If he failed, they could both die.

Stay out here. Live with the fact that he'd let somebody die, know that he could have done something yet he didn't.

He couldn't live with himself if that happened.

Just one chance, just one, that Callaghan could make it out.

Letting out a breath, voice shaking slightly, Tadashi looked back at the building as it burned, then back at his brother. "Callaghan's in there. Someone has to help." he choked out, running inside as his fast as his feet could push him, hat flying off and landing on the ground.

His back was turned; so he didn't see Hiro reaching out, picking it up - almost about to follow him inside.

If he made it inside fast enough, they had a chance of both getting out alive; saving anyone trapped inside was what mattered the most to him.

Just some small chance he could help someone, anyone at all.

Stepping inside already brought several layers of sweat down, smoke filling his nostrils and forcing him into a painful coughing fit as it was as he was almost forced to taste the smoke. Covering his mouth with his hand and using his jacket to cover whatever else wasn't, his stinging eyes desperately glancing around for any sign of life, _anything_.

A level of horrifying surreality struck him down like an anvil once he was inside as he looked around, behind him, to his left, right, and right before his eyes, as he watched a place he had grown familiar with rotting away in the flames. Suddenly, the crackling grew louder, almost like a whistle. Tongues of the fire spurted up, making Tadashi go wide-eyed, practically sprinting as he recognized the sign of it; it must have caught on one of the inventions - it was absorbing heat and it was clearly about to ignite.

Covering his head and his ears, his legs pushed him out of the way, twisting with a crack. His leg stung as a ringing filled his ears - he was right to have gotten out of the way; that was flashover. For a few moments, he felt like he had gone deaf. The impact of it knocked the wind out of him, but he had no choice but to continue as he was in case of another fit, or worse. Torn and tattered bits of metal rained down beside him, still a raging flame. He had to get up, otherwise, it was all too likely to happen.

Suddenly agony shot up his right ankle, where it had twisted and forced him into collapse. But there was no choice, he _had_ to keep moving. It was either run with a sprained ankle...or stay and burn.

As expected, he chose the former.

Now in an area where he actually had some time, Tadashi called out hoarsely, "Professor Callaghan!" hoping to get some form of response and reply.

That was when he felt it; like a snake had just brushed past his already aching leg. His eyes flashed downwards and finally saw another colour other than a horrible flame-filled amber - black.

He had been seeing it for weeks, as he had helped in its production. That sliding across the ground, like a constant clicking.

Hiro's Microbots.

Someone was using the Microbots right now, and that was when he saw the figure up ahead, at the corner of the stage where so many people had once been gathered. It was Professor Callaghan.

"Professor Callaghan…!" Tadashi called over, his voice dampened by the pungent smoke that made him cough, his ears ringing repeatedly from the explosion. "Wha...what are you doing with Hiro's microbots!?" he questioned.

Callaghan seemed to turn to his student, arms raised. He stopped, in silence, only speaking a few seconds after. "Tadashi!? What are you doing...you're not supposed to be in here, it's too dangerous!"

Some might not have noticed their question going unanswered. But Tadashi most certainly did. "What...who did this...was it you!? Did you set..." he asked again, stepping towards his teacher. As much as he wanted it not to be true, there seemed to be many things pointing to the culprit - who seemed to be right in front of him.

The reasons why, why...was it for the microbots? If it was… "Those...are my brother's." Tadashi's voice came out as a low growl, breathing properly becoming a struggle.

Callaghan only seemed to nod; he knew, they both knew-

"Tadashi, look out…!-" the tip-off was the surprised expression on Callaghan's face, but before he could even ask, the microbots were already acting as his teacher's cover.

Turning around, there was a screech like nails on a chalkboard. The beams from the top of the stage were beginning to collapse all around him. He _had_ to get out of there, and now.

Dragging his foot which had become more of a weight than anything else as the heat made sweat pour down his brow, Tadashi forced himself to try and run - then there was that snap.

He was only able to look upwards as the last beam crashed down towards him, and before he could move out of the way, he cried out in pain as it crushed his spine, the top of his neck, his head. ' _N...o…'_ he thought. His lungs seemed to implode on themselves as his face fell into the cold floor, another pain filling the list, this time to his nose. His shaking hand only briefly touched his nose - and came back red.

It was at this moment that Tadashi Hamada realized that he still wasn't dead, that he had some form of life to cling onto. Hiro and Aunt Cass had to have been outside; he had to reach them, he couldn't hurt them again. He remembered the look in his aunt's eyes when she realized her sister and brother-in-law were dead, the cry she had let out when she saw them crushed inside their car. Hiro had been lucky enough to not remember the incident, he couldn't let him feel that pain.

Using what little strength still left within him, Tadashi tried and tried to pull the beam off of him, desperately wanting to reach the people he cared for so deeply, even though every chance of that happening now seemed to have been put inside the building with him, doomed to burn to nothing but ash.

His ears rang again like a malfunctioning speaker, his skin shuddered yet salty sweat draped his body continuously, making it near impossible to think properly, or see, or do anything but smell and taste the smoke and ash as it drifted in the air, filling his lungs as they grew tighter, something that felt normal like breathing now becoming more of a battle, what would usually be just soft pants now infrequent wheezes that clung to what was left. Something familiar yet abnormal hit him, but it wasn't pain; it was something else. Was it some other type of pain?

Despite the fact everything was alight, he was beginning to see black and nothing else.

Even when he could feel his nails bleed, his hands bruised from how hard he pushed it into the metal as it burned his palm, he realized he barely even pushed the beam off of him, only by a centimetre at most. He had no idea anymore. The rawness in his throat from yelling began to disappear, he couldn't even choke out a word as his head pounded endlessly, even as he coughed repeatedly. As the world finally blurred out, Tadashi finally stopped moving, he was somehow still alive as smoke filled his lungs. Just barely.

* * *

Dragging the body out, a man grunted with immeasurable disdain. "Damn it. You could have told me earlier where he was; if he's dead, then we're going to follow if the boss finds out."

A woman smirked at the sight of the unconscious man. A few hours in the medical room could fix him up and then they could begin with proper...training. "He'll be fine. If anything, it'll be easier if he's shut right up."

"And we don't need to worry about anyone looking for him?"

"Of course not. To the public eye, that first explosion killed him. To the public eye; they're both dead."

"And what if they figure us out?"

"...By then, it'll be too late. We'll have our perfect little servant and soldier. That should lighten things up for us since that stupid Aneko botched that 'accident' years ago."

"True, true…"

Stepping into their car with their future soldier, they drove off. Just another ebony car on the highway as the institution burned away.

A beeping on her earpiece detected the woman, who smiled. "Oh, yes. We have him." as the car's technology was hacked into once again, a familiar symbol appearing and disappearing after her answer.


End file.
